Rick van den Hurk picked up another win on April 2 and extended his hitting streak to ten games since his debut last year. He is the fourth pitcher in NPB history (first foreigner) to put together a winning streak of at least ten since their debut, first since Kunikazu Ogawa (1973 – 1974).

Hiroki Kuroda tossed a four-hit shutout against the Yomiuri Giants at Mazda Stadium on April 2. It was his first shutout in Japan since June 3, 2007 against Rakuten.

At forty-one years and one month, Kuroda became just the eighth pitcher in NPB history to pitch a shutout after turning forty and the fourth to record a shutout victory after turning forty-one. He also became the second oldest pitcher in franchise history to toss a shutout, behind Yutaka Ono (forty-one years and eight months in 1997), and the second oldest right-handed pitcher in NPB history to record a shutout, behind Tadashi Wakayabashi (forty-two years and eight months in 1950).

Kuroda is the second oldest pitcher to record a shutout against the Yomiuri Giants, behind Masahiro Yamamoto (forty-five years and zero month in 2010), and the oldest right-handed pitcher to toss a shutout against the Yomiuri Giants.

Pitchers that recorded shutouts after turning forty-one

Name JPN

Name ENG

Tm

若林 忠志

Wakabayashi, Tadashi

HAN, MAI

大野 豊

Ono, Yutaka

HIR

山本昌

Yamamoto, Masahiro

CHU

黒田 博樹

Kuroda, Hiroki

HIR

Pitchers that recorded shutouts against the Giants after turning forty

Dennis Sarfate surprised his teammates when he announced during a pre-game pitcher’s meeting on April 1 that he suddenly had to return to the United States for a month. Yuito Mori, a close teammate, got a little misty-eyed by the announcement. When he found out it was an April Fools prank, he shrugged off the tears and said he was tricked and that the team would have had a tough time winning without Sarfate in the bullpen for a month.

Kei Hosoya tied a Pacific League record earlier today with a triple in his third straight game. He is the twelfth player in NPB history, seventh player in PL history, and fourth player in franchise history to tie the record. The last player to tie the record before Hosoya was Daichi Suzuki in 2013. The NPB record of four was set by Shigeo Nagashima in 1960.

Hara, Sato, and Yoshida hold the record for hitting streaks by a rookie from the start of the season since the introduction of the draft system in 1966. Shuzo Aono recorded a hit in eight straight from the start of the season in 1962.

The Rakuten Eagles introduced a new mascot named Switch earlier today. The mascot was born in California on July 4, 2005. He agreed to a contract worth an estimated 1,776 US dollars. A complete profile (in Japanese) can be found at the link below.

A little backstory: The Eagles issued a statement to the media that said they were going to announce the addition of a new foreigner. They made it seem like they were going to introduce a new player, but instead brought in Switch. The press conference, and everything leading up to it, was an April Fools prank, but the addition itself is real.